Keshi pearl pendant with beaded bezel

The secret to designing a successful cabochon pendant is learning to enhance the natural beauty of the stone by surrounding it with the right amount of color and texture. First, select bead colors to match your cab. Then, decide if you want to use only the cab’s colors or if you want to create a palette with complementary colors. Finally, decide where each color should be placed. Using a complementary color on the top round will make the colors of the cab pop, while a matching color will make the bezel appear to blend in with the stone.

1. Adhere the cabochon to a piece of Ultrasuede approximately 1⁄4 in. (6mm) larger than the cab. If you are using E6000, allow time for the glue to dry.

2. Tie a knot at the end of a 2-yd. (1.8m) length of Fireline or conditioned Nymo. Using a #12 sharps needle, sew through the suede from back to front, next to the cab’s edge.

3. Pick up six color A cylinder beads and position them along the cab’s edge. Sew down through the suede next to the last bead, and come up between the third and fourth beads. Sew through the last three As (FIGURE 1).

Continue working in beaded backstitch around the edge of the cab, adding an even number of beads (PHOTO A).

4. Sew through the ring of beads again so it’s snug against the cab’s edge.

Changing cylinder colors for each round, continue adding rounds of peyote until the top edge of the cab is covered (PHOTO C). If you have an irregularly shaped cab, you may need to work a few decreases so the bezel stays tight around the cab.

PHOTO D

PHOTO E

6. Work a round of peyote using 15/0 seed beads, to curve the beadwork inward so it’s snug around the dome of the cab (PHOTO D).

7. Weave through the bezel to the backstitched round, sew through the suede between two beads, and tie a knot. Don’t trim the thread.

8. Using a sharps needle, sew back through the suede next to the backstitched round. Using one of the cylinder colors, repeat steps 3 and 4, and backstitch an even number of beads around the bezel (PHOTO E). Sew through to the back of the suede, knot the thread, and trim.

FIGURE 2

PHOTO F

9. Embellish the bezel, if desired. Using a regular beading needle and 3 yd. (2.7m) of doubled Fireline or Nymo, knot the ends together, and sew through the suede from back to front. Weave through the beadwork to the center round of peyote on the bezel.

Begin embellishing every other or every third ditch as follows: Pick up a 2–3mm bead and three 15/0s, skip the 15/0s, and sew back through the 2–3mm bead and the next three or five beads on the bezel (FIGURE 2).

PHOTO G

Repeat around the cab. Secure the thread, and trim.

10. Tie a knot at the end of a 2-yd. length of Nymo. Using a sharps needle, sew through the suede, from back to front, next to the bezel’s edge. Adhere the back of the Ultrasuede to a second piece.

11. Trim the two layers of Ultrasuede no more than a cylinder’s width larger than the bezel (PHOTO F).

Sew through to the new back of the pendant near the edge, and whip stitch the edges together (PHOTO G). Don’t trim the thread.

12. Bring the needle to the front of the pendant between two beads on the ring. Using a regular beading needle work a round of circular, even-count peyote using cylinders. Then work a round using 11/0s.

PHOTO H

PHOTO I

13. Weave through the beadwork to the top edge of the pendant. Position the needle on the second-to-last round so it exits a cylinder up-bead one or two beads left of the pendant’s center.

Work in flat, even-count peyote, and stitch a flat strip of cylinder beads on the top edge of the pendant, six or eight beads wide and 32 to 38 rows long (16–19 beads on each side) (PHOTO H).

Fold the strip, aligning the first and last rows, and zip it up(PHOTO I) to form a tube for the bail.

FIGURE 3

PHOTO J

14. Add a three-bead picot along the edges of the bail as follows: Exit an edge bead on the bail, pick up three 15/0s, and sew into the next edge bead (FIGURE 3). Repeat. Secure the thread in the beadwork with a few half-hitch knots between beads, and trim.

15. Embellish the bezel with pearls: Secure a doubled length of Fireline or Nymo in the bezel with half-hitch knots, and exit an 11/0 on the outer edge.

Pick up a pearl and a 15/0. Skip the 15/0, and sew back through the pearl and the next 11/0 on the bezel (PHOTO J).

Repeat around the bezel. Add pearls to the bail, if desired. Secure the thread, and trim.